Wiggle Chain Reaction Deal Falls Through: Mike Ashley Buys Name and IP

but the whole concept right from the sole trader to the SME to this sort of deal. You are basically selling the brand recognition and the reputation (and maybe the client list) to a totally different person or organisation who have done nothing to deserve it. It’s tantamount to fraud in my books. You are basically conning the unaware consumer that the new owners/operators deserve to be trusted the same as the old ones. It’s a bag of shite.

Couldn’t agree more. This has happened to countless brands under SportsDirect, Karrimor already mentioned above.

Buy in the last of the good stuff people trust, then downgrade the production and manufacturing to the usual sweat shops, until it eventually gives up.

M.Ashley might not be doing anything wrong and it was for the owners to save etc, but the whole practice still stinks.

You can’t have you cake and eat it

Of course I can. I’ve lost a fast food outlet, but I’ve still got Sigma, Merlin, SJS, Spa, Brixton, and then tredz, the german mob and BikeINN if I’m desperate. All significantly better for me than anything I could call a LBS (although I appreciate Sigma, SJS, Spa, Brixton and even Merlin are someone’s LBS, just not mine – although ironically Butler’s Cycles was my LBS at one point.

But local shops are not required just because your knowledge is larger than the average consumer.

To me they are not, no. And haven’t been for decades. For others, they might be great – maybe. I’ve overheard so much terrible terrible advice come out of the mouths of randoms on the shop floor’s of LBSs on the rare occasions I step in one that I’d doubt it’s always as good as the recipient might think.

You know that banner at the top of the home page that says Singletrack Forum powered by Chainreaction…

A business transaction that STW is now unlikely to get paid for…

I largely stopped using CRC after the Wiggle takeover, so Ashley picking over the bones isn’t going to make much difference. Shame though, I was ordering from their MBUK ads back in the 90s.

Off at a tangent slightly but Karrimor always get a mention of having been ruined by Ashley but their boots were shit and the brand past its best in the 90s. Muddy Fox gry mentioned in the article as well and they were also garbage long before Ashley acquired the brand.

Back to the present day though it is a shame about Chiggle imho as DHB/Vitus/NP etc. was genuinely good kit and the service was decent.

So would people outlaw brand sales? They seem to be part of the constant churn of life. In this case they would be denying creditors money they are owed

Ashley is not on Frasers Group board but, almost certainly, exercises considerable influence behind the scenes.

It’s clear that consumers, generally, and the stock market like what the group are doing.

He and his company are acting fully legally; UK headquartered and paying UK taxes in full.

He turned an initial investment of £10k in the early 80s into a business worth >£5 billion.

It’s clear he sees value where others don’t – and is willing to take a financial risk.

I have no allegiance to any part of Frasers Group but facts are important

Does it get returned to the original manufacturer?

During the fire sale I went for a ride with a Wiggle employee. I asked why road tyres weren’t cheap. He said they’d be boxed retail. They could be returned for a refund to the supplier at any point for a full refund. The own branded stuff and OEM stuff is to be sold to post off creditors. Maybe right at the end they’ll give up on their website and sell it in bigger lots.

Just seen a post on FB that apparently all those directly employed by the brands – Vitus, NP etc. have all been let go too…….

I’m fully expecting Nukeproof to continue producing bikes and retaining some key employees. It’s a well recognised successful brand producing cutting edge bikes and with a race team. It must be one of the jewels of Ashley’s purchase. Thoughts?

@capability

If it’s anything like Evans and Pinnacle they just seemed to keep selling the Arkose, etc. unchanged until they were a bit behind the curve and then give up, no further developments.

Who is on the team?

+1

There’s no nukeproof factory team registered with the UCI

Nigel page (team manager nukeproofsram) has said it’s all over on Instagram. Assume that’s it then. Terrible news for all, nukeproof were really excelling at the moment.

People were only really fans for the price IMHO.

After the wiggle / CRC merger id agree with you. Before that it customers were also driven by the range, fast reliable delivery and customer service (back when you could speak to someone). The recent web site changes were a complete joke.

Its not like the guy is Phillip Green ffs

He’s a property tycoon rather than retail – buys a failing shop franchise, boots off the the expensive rental sites & keeps the freehold ones, then rents those sites back to his other brands. So he makes money twice on them all. High streets have died off, not due to lack of footfall, but lack of freehold and affordable rents/rates.

Well that’s bad news for all the staff in all the companies affected.

If I’m honest, and I’ve used CRC/Wiggle, the last few years of underpriced selling and aggressively putting LBS’s out of business was not sustainable or positive for the cycling industry. It was a race to the bottom on price, constantly. I’m a huge bargain hunter, but I’m wondering if this is a good thing for many others in the business.

Lbs is the way forward

It hasn’t been the way forward for me for 20 years as they a) never have anything I need and b) have less knowledge about the things I want than I do

I will continue Google searching for the items I want and buy from whatever shops come up that stock them, all online. No LBS is ever going to be able to stock the things I want.

I agree with Neil here, I also didn’t expect a buyer to come forward for the group as a going concern.

Unless Nukeproof is sold separately and quickly to a third party it’s also gone along with the other in-house brands, MA doesn’t do bicycle engineering and design.

All likelihood is the brands either die or become budget offerings like muddy fox etc.

It’s all a huge shame, some good people and lots of work down the drain.

@Ribena – I am almost certain you won’t ever see another high end nukeproof bike for sale unless they sell the brand externally.

So does this mean the mega I recently bought is now a Genuine End of Line Limited edition

until it breaks in 2 weeks, then it’s just ‘end’.

🙂

If CRC\Wiggle administrators have let all the staff go it seems odd the website is still open for orders. Who is going to be picking/packing those? Do staff get given notice in this situation and are still working for a week or so? I would have thought the website would have been closed. There could be a fair few people not receiving their orders if they are not aware of the announcement.